The primary focus of the Secondary Intervention Project involves the observation that early intervention with antipsychotic medication for schizophrenic patients decreases the long-term morbidity of the illness. If antipsychotic medications do influence long-term morbidity, then a mechanism of how they do this can be proposed. Repeated exacerbation of most medical disorders (such as ischemia or inflammation) leave scars. The early intervention studies explore how psychosis and early intervention might affect the course of schizophrenia, and how our understanding of that mechanism might lead to better treatments for patients. Foremost among these studies is the National Collaborative Study of Early Psychosis and Suicide (NCSEPS), which is being conducted in conjunction with the Department of Defense (DoD) and the Veterans Administration (VA) to assess what stressors might precipitate the onset of a neuropsychiatric illness in servicemen and servicewomen inducted into the Armed Forces and, ultimately, what preventive measures might be taken to reduce the incidence of these illnesses.